Guest blog post from Freedom Home Services for Carolina Tree Care
By Hannah Mayhorn
So — you've gone under contract on a house and booked your home inspection. Now there's nothing left to do except negotiate repairs, get an appraisal, and sign the closing documents after the underwriter approves everything — right?
Before you put your to-do list away, there's one more essential appointment to book.
Believe it or not, home inspectors are not required to examine or disclose any problems with the trees on the property you are purchasing.
An ISA-certified arborist can inspect those trees to ensure they are not going to cause any damage to your home or yard.
But wait — what problems could your beautiful, shady trees possibly cause? The answer is, more than you think!
Let's delve into three reasons why you NEED an ISA-certified arborist to inspect the trees on the property you are purchasing.
1. Tree Health & Safety Issues
A number of pests, including termites, borers, and fungi/mushrooms, may be affecting the health and safety of the trees on your soon-to-be property.
These pests feed on wood and bark, which can decay and weaken your trees. If severe enough, this decay can be a threat to your home in the event that the tree or parts of the tree fail unexpectedly.
Some pests can also affect multiple trees in the yard and even spread to the home itself, ruining the structural components and siding.
When you have an ISA-certified arborist examine the trees on your prospective property before purchase, they can help you make an informed decision and offer solutions to potential tree-related areas of concern.
2. Tree Root Issues
The type of soil underneath and surrounding your home can influence how nearby tree roots affect your home's foundation.
Since tree roots continually grow in search of water and nutrients, their movement can shift the ground in a significant way. This especially occurs when the soil type is dense clay or dry, crumbling sand with pieces of gravel throughout.
When the ground beneath a home shifts, it can compromise and crack the foundation — something every homeowner hopes to avoid.
An ISA-certified arborist may be able to detect a problem with root growth on your soon-to-be property during an inspection, allowing you to make a more informed decision about the purchase.
3. Tree Clearance Issues
When trees are planted too close to the home and/or the branches directly infringe upon the home, you may have higher initial and ongoing maintenance costs than you anticipated.
A consultation with an ISA-certified arborist can give you an idea of what type of pressing and future maintenance will be required and the costs associated with that maintenance.
Carolina Tree Care offers free 30-minute consultations with an experienced ISA-certified arborist. If the arborist encounters anything that needs attention, plant health care services, tree pruning, tree removal, and/or stump grinding may be able to take care of the problem.
Contact Carolina Tree Care today to schedule your arbor consultation!
Pro-tip: Try to schedule the consultation at the end of your home inspection time so that after you get done meeting with your inspector, you can meet with your arborist to talk about the trees!
While home inspectors don't inspect the trees on a property, they do go over everything else with extensive detail.
Your inspector will examine the components of your home and property and make note of anything that appears unsafe, in need of repair or replacement, or not up to your state's standards in their report.
Not all home inspection companies are created equal, however. Larger companies are often forced to push too many jobs on their inspectors. This leads to shorter and less thorough inspections, where critical problems with the property may be glossed over or missed entirely.
We at Freedom Home Services go above and beyond state standards to ensure client safety and satisfaction. Compared to most 2-3 hour home inspections, our inspections last an average of 5 hours without costing more than competitor rates.
It's important to us to make the closing process easier for realtors, too, so we offer a personal online portal for each of the realtors we work with. There, they can schedule an inspection, view and download inspection reports and photos, make repair lists, and request re-inspections once repairs are completed — all in the same place!
We offer a 2 business day scheduling guarantee. We know the closing process is time sensitive. For that reason, when you request an inspection, we promise to schedule your inspection no more than two days out from agreeing to book with us, or we'll offer a $50 discount.
We look forward to serving you!
Hannah Mayhorn is a virtual assistant at Freedom Home Services with four years of experience in content marketing. She is pursuing her degree in biology from Hill College and will sit for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) exam in July 2023.
Get in touch:
Freedom Home Services LLC
1015 Charlotte Ave #330
Rock Hill, SC 29732
Phone: (803) 693-5927
https://freedomhsllc.com/contact-us
